Six Feet Under...And Digging Up
by Seijoutai Priire
Summary: ~Struggling agianst herself, her talent, her limitations, and sometimes the X-Men, one mutant's journy to Xavier's School for GIfted Children. This is/was part of an RPG.~
1. ~Six Feet Under~

****

Six Feet Under

Because her left arm was shackled to the bed, the female couldn't move. Thick gloves on her hands also prevented her fingers from even budging. It would have been an easy thing for her to break the handcuffs despite the precautions that had been taken, yet because she had nowhere to go, she didn't even try. She had given up what hope she'd had a long time ago. In fact, she couldn't even remember a time when she was impressanable and hopeful. She couldn't remember a lot of things.

Her blonde and brown streaked hair lay scattered on the pillow under her head. She had lain there for what seemed to be forever pondering things. Since there had been no one else around for a long time, she had just her own thoughts to keep her company. The interconnected questions in her mind were like snake's coils tightening around her despondent spirit. If she could run, where would she go? Did she have a home or anywhere to run to? Would they accept her if she knew where to go?

The answer to the last question was most likely a resounding _no_. The female was, after all, a mutant.

~*~*~*~*~

She was fairly sure that sometime in her past there had been a place she called home. A veil over her memory gave her a very limited grasp on where she'd come from and what her life had been like...before. Before they brought her to this place, before they had started messing around with her body and her mind...just before.

Some things like her name, her hometown, and her pets came to her almost easily. To remember other things, she had to work. But whenever she grasped a memory from behind the veil it was with her forever. She didn't know much about herself in the past, but she did know about the present.

Mostly about pain.

The first memory she had taken from behind the veil was one of a set of humans and herself. She was standing alone even among them. They were tormenting her with their words and their threatening actions. Judging from the feelings, she had known these humans although their names were lost to her. Desperate, the girl tried to escape the ever-shrinking circle they'd captured her in. She was very young at this time, perhaps ten or twelve. The girl wanted so badly to get away that she envisioned herself stronger than they were and that she'd bash her way through. She envisioned herself smaller than they were so she could slip past them. Different and all frantic daydreams dashed through her head. The last daydream she had was appealing to her. She imagined that she had the power to break things. It took her a minute to figure out what she'd break. She tried not to smile. The girl would break their train of thought. Suddenly, the tormenting words stopped suddenly. Looking around, the little girl saw that the bullies were confused. Her next realization was that she had done it. To make sure she wasn't imagining it, the girl looked at a metal bar in the hand of one of the boys. Wanting it to break with a good loud sound, she snapped her fingers.

The memory of the sound brought the girl out of her reflection. Yes, she had broken the bar and many others after it. Because of her talent—her _mutation_—the girl had been chased down, beaten, and forced to hide. Every human she had come in contact with treated her like she was an enemy. It turned the once idealistic believer into a disillusioned dreamer. She still dreamed of the day when she'd be free form this place, but with a cynical realism that told her it would never happen.

There were times when her silent cynical laughter was directed at herself. So many had told her that to succeed she had to believe…maybe because she believed she was alone, she stayed that way.

~*~*~*~*~

She knew the nature of the facility that she was incarcerated in. Experimentation on mutants was its specialty. What was rarely done in the world of humans found its place among the machines and cruel minds of this place. As the people walked past her room she could hear them talking of other experiments. According to the gleaned information her "improvements" were minor. Her hearing was increased and her memory capacity was at the very least doubled. The last was most likely the reason for the veil on her memory. The first allowed her to find out about the other mutants. Many of the experiments failed. Some succeeded, like she had. Their greatest accomplishment was a man with adamantium claws. She was unsure whether the claws were a mutation, or an addition. Whichever, he was very dangerous. Especially since he had escaped.

The dreamer part of her nature wished him luck. Her disillusionment with life told her that he'd die or be killed quickly.

Wiggling her fingers as much as she could in an attempt to warm them reminded her of her own predicament. Usually, when she was using her talent, she snapped her fingers. That wasn't necessary for any reason other than to make her enemies—in other words, everyone—believe that it was necessary. It was also the reason her hands were in the cumbersome encasing.

If she could understand a thing, even slightly, she could break it. There had been plenty of time before she'd been captured to experiment on her own. Physical things were easy to break. She could snap off a tree branch, destroy a window, or break the bonds that held her. Her powers extended into the non-corpereal world as well. It was easy for her to break laws of science…allowing her to do anything. The law of gravity was twisted in her favor, allowing her to fly. There were other things she could do if she only wanted to. Beams of light were twisted, mutants lost their powers as she temporarily broke the code sequence that had mutated them…she could break anything. _Even hearts_, was her private joke.

~*~*~*~*~

The door opened, and the girl turned to look. She was surprised when a girl who walked in wasn't wearing a nurse's or doctor's outfits. Instead, they looked as if they were escapes from a costume party. A cynical smile crossed her lips as she wondered why they were there.

"Shh!" the woman with dark hair warned. "We're here to get you out," she continued. "Be quiet and we'll help you."

There was a slight popping noise as a being walked through the wall. "Hah," the "ghost" said, phasing into a pretty young girl with a grin on her lips. "That'll quiet their alarm." The female started unwrapping the bound girl's hands. When he'd gotten the mitten-like things off, the girl spoke for the first time.

"I can handle it from here." She flexed her fingers, then rubbed her middle finger and her thumb together to create a loud, almost metallic snap. The bonds fell off her wrists, broken in half. She stood and stretched. No word of thanks left her lips.

"Head for the exit," the brunette suggested, preparing to step through another wall. "The others'll be out there."

A raised eyebrow indicated her cynical assessment. Still, Snap shrugged and moved off.

~*~*~*~*~

The blonde turned her psychedelic eyes on the world. Just looking into the steady gaze of her eyes—sea green swirled with purple and rimmed with yellow—was enough to make most being lose their nerve. She wondered, with silent amusement, how the world viewed her.

"Hello. I'm Snap," she said very softly to herself. The world, as usual, didn't sound like she cared. Suddenly, Snap put a finger to her mouth—half-open in concentration. "I hear someone coming," she spoke lowly, still talking to herself in a half-amused tone. "Hide." With a careful look, she snapped her fingers and leapt straight up into a tree that hung over the path.

From her high vantagepoint, Snap could see the beings who were coming. A red-headed woman, a man with dark glasses, a woman with a shock of white bangs, and a short, but powerful-looking, man. She closed her eyes and focused her hearing. There was another man…complaining loudly about something. Snap quickly assessed all of their potential for danger. They were mutants…softly snapping her fingers, the blonde let herself into their minds. One man shot lasers out of his eyes. A woman absorbed all of a beings powers and memories. The far-away man created electric fields. The other woman…was a telepath.

Snap cursed quietly. The telepath was warning the others. Snapping her fingers, the cynical woman broke the mental thread that was coming towards her.

"I kin smell 'er," the short man growled, wrinkling his nose. "She doesn't smell too happy, either."

"Wolverine," the man who shot lasers sighed. "I think you're wrong. Whoever it was would have come out by now."

The man called Wolverine narrowed his eyes and scanned around. Snap herself smiled coldly and waited for him to find her. It took Wolverine less time than she'd imagined.

"Up there!" he growled pointing. Snap was kneeling on one of the branches with her other knee tucked up under her chin.

The laser-eyed man looked surprised. "Who are you?"

Snap said nothing.

He looked at the redhead beside him. "Jean…"

Snap recognized the woman he celled Jean as the telepath. Quickly snapping her fingers, she broke the genetic code that allowed Jean to read minds.

While all the others were gasping over Jean's sudden inability to use her mental powers, Snap flipped out of the tree. She landed in a crouch with a staff in her hands. It had come from her backpack and was her weapon of choice.

She twirled the staff and held it at the ready. Hearing someone quietly approach from behind her, Snap spun and slammed the staff into his body. He fell to the ground.

One of the women shouted "Gambit!" and shot a glare at the blonde staff holder. "All right missy," she growled, running her fingers through her white bangs. "The gloves come off."

"Rogue! Be careful!"

It was the laser-eyed man who'd shouted the warning. Apparently, Snap had made this "Rogue" angry. Snap shrugged and stared at her opponent. Rogue had taken off her gloves and was flying towards Snap.

Rubbing her fingers together to produce the normal metallic sound, Snap moved no other part of her body. Rogue lightly touched Snap's outstretched arm that held the staff. Nothing happened.

"Wha…?"

Snap used her staff to render the flying mutant unconscious. She stood, relaxed but ready, for the next attack.

"Lemme handle this one, Cyke," Wolverine snarled. "Ok, pretty girl. Let's rumble." Wolverine crossed his wrists and extended the huge admantium claws that inhabited his forearms.

Snap looked as surprised as any time during the encounter. "So," she said softly, speaking for the first time. "You weren't just a rumor."

Apparently, Wolverine didn't know how to respond to that. He and Snap circled each other carefully. Suddenly, the man lunged. At that exact moment Snap could feel something happening behind her. She sprung away from Wolverine and saw the man with laser eyes trying to shoot her in the back. Snap snarled, revealing vampire-like teeth. A snap of her fingers caused the beam to bend, shooting harmlessly into the sky.

"What the…?" the man shouted.

It had taken too much concentration for Snap. She'd missed Wolverine's renewed attack and Gambit's electricity charged card. The card hit her and exploded just before Wolverine tackled her and brought her down.

The woman lay sprawled on the ground. Gambit picked up her staff. "Hey, dis nice," he commented to Rogue.

"Jean, now can you get inside her head?"

"I'll try, Scott," the woman responded hopefully. It took her a moment before she sighed in frustration. "I can't. There's so much mental scarring that I can't get in."

Scott nodded. "We'll take her to the professor."

"Maybe _he_ can knock some sense into her?" Kitty suggested, having just walked up. "After all, we _did_ help her."

~*~*~*~*~

Snap cracked one of her tri-colored eyes and looked around. She was in a white room. Medical, her mind informed her. The mutant couldn't repress a shudder.

Opening both eyes, she raised herself off the bed. Looking down, the blonde grimaced. The prisoner's garb she was in was not her clothing of choice. Whoever had captured her this time had also taken her backpack. She cursed quietly.

"We don't usually use words like that," a cultured voice said. Snap followed the voice to a man outside of the glass wall that kept her in. The woman said nothing as she tucked her feet up under herself and stared at him.

"What's your name?"

She pondered telling him for a moment. "Snap."

A slight smile teased at the corners of his mouth. "Snap is your name?"

The mutant nodded. Her body jerked a little, and she frowned. Snap rubbed her fingers together, snapping them.

"I'm sorry," the bald man told her. "Your mutant talent won't work in there."

Her body jerked again. "That…is…a mis…take…" she ground out through convulsions. The woman convulsed again and fell off the bed.

Reaching into her mind, the man could get nothing except a feeling of panic giving way to harsh cynicism. "Jean?" he asked.

"Epileptic seizures, Professor," the redhead confirmed, standing beside him.

"Could she be faking them as a way to get our guard down?"

Jean shook her head. "I'm not sure. I think not."

The professor frowned. "Then…release her."

"Are you sure? She _did_ try to kill us," Jean reminded him.

He nodded. "Give her back her mutation."

Snap continued convulsing for a moment after Jean negated the field suppressing her mutation. The blonde snapped her fingers a few times and finally stopped writhing. Narrowed tri-colored eyes glared through the glass at the pair. She looked like she would very easily kill them. Her slightly open mouth revealed savagely pointed teeth, adding to the caged-animal feel. Once again, she snapped her fingers. As she stood up, as if she was a cat who'd just fallen, the window in front of her shattered in an impressive display of fireworks.

"Professor!" Jean yelled, using her mental talent to protect him from any shards. To her surprise, instead of shattering into slivers of glass, the window had crumbled into a fine dust.

Snap brushed herself off as she stepped through the place where the window had been. "Be careful," she warned them quietly. "Caged animals are the most dangerous of all." The woman perched herself on the edge of a control panel, knowing they had questions to ask her. She didn't know, however, if she'd answer them.

"What's you talent?" Jean asked, curious. So far this "Snap" stopped Cyclops's lasers, prevented Rogue from absorbing energy, and stopped Jean's ability to read minds.

"Breaking things," Snap answered.

Jean looked confused, so Snap demonstrated. With a snap of her fingers, she broke a pencil sitting on the desk. Then, as Scott walked in, she snapped her fingers again.

The man looked confused. "I came in here for something important…but now I can't remember what it is." He looked around. "How did she get out??"

"Easy. I walked," Snap said sarcastically.

"You made him forget?" Jean said, her eyes wide. "How?"

Snap shrugged. "I broke his train of thought." With a double snap of her fingers, Scott brightened.

"I remember!" He proceeded to whisper a question in Jean's ear.

Ignoring the pair, Snap focused her eyes on the man Jean had called "Professor." She lifted an eyebrow at him as she felt him trying to probe her mind. "Looking for something?" she asked softly.

He smiled at her. "I am Professor Xavier. Your mind is…shadowed."

Snap shrugged. "Ghosts of broken promises." The woman didn't offer up any more information.

"Not very talkative, are you."

A rare smile tugged at her lips. "I don't usually have much to talk about." There was a strong, deep-set bitterness in her words that the professor could almost hold in his hands.

"Is there anything you _can_ tell me about?" he asked, getting a little frustrated. After all, they were protecting her from whatever she'd been running from.

"Let's see." Her voice was cynical. "I was taken out of a mutant testing facility."

He noticed that she didn't say "escaped."

"While I was there, I was experimented on, as the name suggests. Before coming to be there, I was minding my own business as well as doing a little freelancing." She sounded coolly objective as if none of this had affected her.

"A testing facility? Where?" Xavier demanded. "Maybe we can shut it down."

Snap shrugged, brushing her wild blonde hair behind her. "Ask your Wolverine."

Before the professor could do anything else, Snap stiffened. "Have you got some kind of alarm in this place?" Once he responded in the affirmative, she continued speaking. "I'd suggest you turn it on."

Xavier frowned and reached out with his senses. He caught the edge of a hostile mental signature moving inwards. "How did you know?"

Snap leapt off the control panel and reached for her knapsack. She'd seen it in a corner earlier. "Someone by the name Jubilee is being yelled at because she fried someone's CD player. Gambit is cussing in French. And there is a being quoting Shakespeare." The woman found what she was looking for and pulled it out. "I have above average hearing." She gave a cold smile and twirled the staff in her hands. "Just you, me, and whoever's out there."

The whole room was suddenly thrown into darkness. "Did you do that?" he demanded angrily.

"No." Her voice echoed strangely in the darkness. There was a dully metallic snap and the lights came back on. "I did that."

"Professor!" the pair heard someone yell.

"Scott?"

Snap growled low in her throat. Xavier glanced at her, but the growl was not directed at his student. Instead, her attention was directed at the wall. Somehow, it had been silently removed. Coming through was a hoard of beasts.

Once again, Snap twirled her staff. She made no other move to provoke the mutants in front of her; that seemed to be enough to cause them to charge.

Xavier used his mental powers to subdue some of the mutants while watching Snap battle. She was a completely silent fighter, almost as if she was disinterested in the mayhem she was causing. The cynical mutant was incredibly good at causing mayhem.

He paused to reassess her fighting. She wasn't completely silent; there was an occasional snap of her fingers that caused some mutant more harm. By far, her favorite weapon was the striking, whipping, jabbing staff in her hands. It seemed to be an almost living thing working alongside of her.

Snap stood over the fallen mutants with her legs spread and her hips swung out to the right. Her staff was in her right hand and pointed downward. The slight snarl on her lips made her seem incredibly dangerous.

A frown crossed the professor's face as he realized that he'd not once seen any of the mutants use their mutant powers. "Snap…" he started, intending to ask her about it. The bald man was interrupted by the rest of his students bursting in the finally opened door.

"Professor!" Scott shouted. "Are you all right?"

"I seem to be," the man responded. He gestured toward Snap, who was still defensive. "Thanks to our new friend."

She snorted.

The man lifted an eyebrow. "What, Snap?"

"I believe the lady is expressing the fact that her intentions were not friendly," a large blue mutant theorized.

Snap slowly turned her tri-colored eyes on him in a move calculated to be aloof and dangerous at the same time. Her entire upper body was involved in the serpentine movement.

"Oh dear," the blue mutant responded.


	2. ~Digging Up~

****

Digging Up

Sighing, Snap looked around. Despite her best efforts, the mutants in Xavier's School For Gifted Children were determined to be friendly. She twirled the staff in her hands and snarled at her reflection in the mirror. Her wild hair was just below chin length, but danced all around her head as if it were alive. She had never been able to subdue it, even when she wanted to.

More than her straying locks of hair, her eyes gave the mutant a wild look. Swirls of purple danced in her yellow-rimmed, sea green orbs. And her particular habit of cocking her head and staring at people without blinking gave even more to her creepy aura.

"What do you want?" she asked softly, seeming to direct the question at her reflection.

"Huh?"

Snap turned. "What do you want, Scott?"

Her quiet voice seemed to ask him more than just the obvious question. It begged him to search his heart...Scott shook off the idea. "The professor wants you to have dinner with us."

"Not hungry."

Scott raised an eyebrow over his glasses. "You have to eat."

"Not necessarily."

The other mutant was frustrated. "Snap! Stop being so hardheaded and let us help you."

"What if I don't want to be helped?"

Her last question was spoken with undertones of heartbreak. They were so soft he almost missed them. "Dinner's at eight." Somehow, he knew she'd be there.

~*~*~*~*~

"Use your best table manners," Kitty suggested to Snap.

"I don't have any table manners," Snap grumbled.

Kitty shook her head, sending her brown curls flying around her face. "Sure you do," she offered. "Just be polite."

One of the other mutants—who had heard about Snap—laughed. "Then we're all sunk."

Snap bared her sharp teeth at the winged man.

"I'm Warren," he introduced himself. "Otherwise known as Archangel." He spread his beautiful white wings.

"Snap," she said.

The winged man looked like he was waiting for something. Wolverine walked up to him and put a hand on his shoulder. "Don't waste yer time," the Canadian mutant suggested. "She's not that friendly."

"Oh, friendly like you?"

For one of the first times since her arrival, Snap cracked a smile. Jubilee saw her and brightened. The twenty-two year old woman took the mutant's hand. "Here, sit by me."

Snap rolled her eyes, but allowed herself to be taken to the seat. It wasn't long into the meal before Beast made a comment about Snap having impeccable manners. It was true. More than almost any other mutant there, Snap handled herself perfectly with the utensils and things. The mutant girl shrugged and offered no explanation.

"How'd you end up here?" Jubilee asked around a mouthful of ice cream.

"Normal stuff," Snap informed her, shrugging. "Run out of town...captured by _humans_—" she spat the word "—then freed by mutants...then captured by the X-Men." Another of her sarcastic smiles filled her face. "Trouble follows me."

As if the words were some kind of magic charm, an alarm went off. Snap glared at it. "I'm trying to eat," she muttered as the rest of the mutants leapt out of their chairs. The tri-color eyed woman followed them, figuring she owed them at least a little something in return for the meal.

~*~*~*~*~

The intruders were dressed in military fatigues and heavily armed. They were also all human. Snap greeted them with a low growl.

"Friends of yours?" Archangel inquired, standing behind her.

Snap spat out a curse. "Only the kind that stab you in the back." She saw the professor waving at her and moved over toward him. Her every motion was like a cat's—seeped in careless grace and power.

"They say they're here to bring you back," the Professor explained. He used his mental powers to stop her from snapping her fingers together. "No powers. They are here to negotiate."

Snap did not look impressed. "What could they possibly want to negotiate for?"

"Evidently," the bald leader of the X-Men frowned, "they would like to negotiate your safe return."

The girl shook her head, sending bi-colored locks of hair flying around her face. That was the only response she gave. "The only returning I'll do," she informed them, her voice soft but intense, "is in a body bag." The mutant barred her slightly pointed teeth at the paramilitary men.

"Now Snap," the professor started.

She shook her head, scattering wild strands of hair around her face. "No. I am _not_ negotiating because I am _not_ returning." The tri-color-eyed mutant looked very determined on that point. In her hands, the staff weaved in the air slightly as if it were seeking an excuse to lash out.

"Snap," the wheelchair bound man said, his voice strong enough to capture and hold her attention. "_I _would like to hear what they have to say."

Snap trembled slightly with contained emotion. Then she straightened, her eyes back to their normal almost-lazy, cynical amusement. "Then do it without me present." She walked out, leaving the rest of the mutants to talk with the humans.

~*~*~*~*~

Snap perched on the arm of a chair, holding a roll from the dinner table. She was very deliberately using her canine teeth to bite into the bread and ignore the other in the room.

"Not very talkative, are you?"

The mutant looked up through her blonde and brunette hair at the other woman. Kitty, if she remembered correctly. Which she did. "No."

"Not very friendly either," Kitty commented again, a slight smile on her lips.

Snap raised a single eyebrow, giving her cynical expression a slightly amused edge. "I take great pains not to be."

"Why?"

The mutant rolled her eyes. "You are the most prying group of people I have ever met." She let her mouth twitch upwards. "Your professor is talking to most of the reason."

"Those humans?" Kitty asked. Once a nod from Snap confirmed it, she continued, "What did they do to you?"

For a minute, Snap considered not answering the other woman's questions. That would be what the other female was expecting. Because it was in her nature to confuse people, Snap spoke. "What didn't they?" She clicked her fingers together, emphasizing the click they made. "Metallic implants under the skin of my fingers for some reason." She tapped the side of her head. "Mostly-botched cybernetic implant. I can remember anything that's said to me or that I learn or that I infer...at the cost of whatever past I had." Snap grinned slightly. No, Jean hadn't expected her to say anything. Finally, the mutant female pointed to her ears. "And enhanced hearing. Lots of fun things." The mutant went back to eating her roll.

"What did they do that for?" Kitty pressed. She leaned forward slightly, then tucked her curly brown hair behind her ear to keep it out of her hazel eyes.

"Probably because mutants are lower than humans, deserve to be killed in inhuman ways that even animals are protected from, and a general sense of sadism."

Something about the way Snap phrased her comment and the amused eyebrow she raised made Kitty laugh. "Oh, come on. Life's looking up for you." The pretty mutant stood up and stretched, still grinning at Snap.

Snap herself shook her head as Kitty phased through a wall. "Up." She repeated the word in a half-amused scoff. "That's just relative to where you're standing."

"Oh?"

The single syllable caught on Snap's ears and hung there for a minute. She tried to shake it out of her mind with a physical motion, and ended up turning around and glaring at Professor Xavier. "Yes. Relative," she informed him, her voice close to an annoyed growl.

He raised an eyebrow at her. For a moment, the leader of the X-Men considered chastising the mutant for her attitude, but restrained himself. "Relative to what?" he queried.

"One's own position has a lot to do with it," Snap responded. Picking an arbitrary point between herself and the man, she indicated it with an outstretched finger. From his position in the wheelchair, Xavier was forced to look up. "Up to you. Down to me."

"Fascinating."

Somehow, he was able to inject a world of meaning into the four syllables. He made it sound like Snap's commentary on life had opened her entire soul to him. She was not impressed.

Instead of responding to what she felt was a statement inviting her to open up to the man, Snap let the silence drag on. She'd lived most of her life in a deep, forbidding silence anyway.

"Then, in relation to us..."

She turned her eyes on him, and stared with all the intensity she could muster into the purple flecked, yellow rimmed, green orbs.

"...where are you? Up? Or down?"

Snap laughed softly. Peeling her lips back form the vampire-like teeth she was endowed with, she approximated a smile. "Six feet under."

~*~*~*~*~

It was almost impossible to tame her hair except with a miracle, but Snap still gathered her unruly locks into her hands and twisted a hair tie around them. Most of her hair stayed in the tie with a few bi-colored locks clinging to her face.

With her hair mostly out of her way, Snap glanced around her room. There was nothing unusual about it—just a simple twin bed with a white comforter, and a gray chair slid into the corner nearest the window. Her knapsack was hanging from the doorknob of the closet. A desk with a shelf above it held nothing save for a mug with two pencils and two pens set on top of a notebook. At least, that was all that was _supposed_ to be sitting on the desk.

Snap frowned, wrinkling her brow. Just that slight motion worked more of her hair loose. She tucked the errant strands behind her ear. And reached for the crisp white envelope that was propped on the white mug. Her name was written on the front in the flowing handwriting of a woman. Taking that as permission to open the envelope, Snap slid her nail under the flap of the envelope and popped the seal. Unfolding the letter inside, her eyes narrowed even farther.

"_Congratulations, Snap,_" she read.

__

You have been accepted to the prestigious school of 'Professor Xavier's School For Higher Learning.' You are of a select few accepted into the school. The first date of classes you are expected to attend is August 30. You will not need to bring anything but your clothing; anything else is discouraged but not prohibited. The school will provide necessities. As a student of the school, you are expected to maintain high grades, and to follow teachers' instructions, your teacher advisor will be Logan, and you will be on Gold Block. Chores are also mandatory.

It was signed "sincerely" by the Professor, Jean Grey, and Logan. Snap wondered if it was a form letter that they sent to everyone the X-Men rescued, or if "with amusement, since if you refuse we'll kick you out on your butt" had been edited.

Snap glanced at the window and wondered if anyone would notice if she jumped out it and ran off. Speculating, she walked over and glanced down.

__

'When one is as far down as one can go, there is no direction left but up.'

Snap closed her eyes in annoyance. Xavier was in her head. There was no telling what he'd do. _That_ thought was more or less directed at the Professor. She could feel his amusement.

With the sense of amusement came an impression of the room the Professor was in and the people around him. Snap clicked her fingers together and the glass that Jean Grey had been holding broke.

__

'That_ was inappropriate_,' she received from both of the telepaths at the same time. She was tempted to reply, but assumed that her reply would be even more "inappropriate".

After all her years of being buried, it was time to start digging up.

~*~*~*~*~


End file.
